Popularly known as CAM, complementary and alternative medicine is that type of medicine which consists of numerous treatment advancements categorized outside the area of traditional medicine.

2. Popularly known as CAM, complementary and
alternative medicine is that type of medicine
which consists of numerous treatment
advancements categorized outside the area of
traditional medicine.
A growing amount of investigation is being done
to create the security and effectiveness of
alternative medicine. However, when compared
to conventional western therapies like drugs,
good amount of research on this type of
medicine is still needed.

3. Finding the differences
It is significant to know the difference between
complementary medicine and alternative
medicine. Even though these two concepts are
frequently lumped together however in true
sense, they differ.
Complementary medicine is more concerned
about healing practices that work in
combination with conventional medicine. For
instance, a patient who is suffering from cancer
and receives chemotherapy might at the same
time undergo acupuncture to help administer
chemo side effects such as vomiting and

4. Alternative medicine varies in that it is not used
as a complement to, but quite as an alternative
for conventional therapy. For instance, a cancer
patient who undergoes recommended
chemotherapy and instead selects to treat the
illness with precise dietary changes.
Who uses CAM?
A recent survey conducted by The National
Center for Complementary and Alternative
Medicine or NCCAM revealed that around 40%
adults and 12% children use complementary
and alternative medicine in some form or the
other .

5. Women between the age group of 40 to 60 and
people with high income were found to use CAM
often as compared to other people.
There have been substantial increases in the
number of people who use some forms of
complementary and alternative medicine or the
other. Some of the most popular ones are
massage therapy, meditation, yoga and
acupuncture.
Varied categories of CAM
The National Center for Complementary and
Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) has listed down 5
major categories of complementary and

6. Mind-body medicine
This includes treatments that are concerned
about your mental and emotional situations.
Examples are meditation, music therapy etc.
Whole medical systems
This refers to the entire systems of medicinal
theory and practice, several of which revert
thousands of years and have roots in non-
western cultures. Examples include traditional
Chinese medicine and Ayurveda, a therapy that
originated in India. Whole medical systems
from the West include homeopathy and
naturopathy.

7. Manipulative and body-based practices
Depending upon the physical management of
the body, this exercise is planned to recover
precise symptoms and health as a whole.
Examples are osteopathy and chiropractic.
Energy medicine
This alternative medicine makes use of energy
fields to endorse healing. It affects energy fields
that encircle your body. Practices include qi
gong and reiki.

8. Biologically based practices
This lays focus on herbs, nutrition, and vitamins,
dietary supplements and herbal medicine. A
rising interest in such types of therapies is
resulting in more and more researches, but
several of these biologically based forms have
yet to be methodically tested.

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